I recently decided to ditch the use of flashlights entirely in my life, in favor of a solid headlamp. After all, what can a flashlight do that a headlamp can’t (aside from not sticking tenaciously to your noggin, of course)? After researching the best model for my need, which include camping, hiking, and late night pantry foraging, I decided on the Tikka Plus 2. Upon testing it, I noticed two things: 1) Its output is seriously bright (don’t look into the light, it hurts) and 2) It is incredibly lightweight. I was sold.

The Tikka 2 contains both White and Red LEDs, along with three different burn modes (economic, maximum, blinking) with a burn time of up to 140 hours in economic mode which is still blindingly-bright. The Tikka includes a last memory mode, and remembers it’s previous settings so the user doesn’t have to cycle through all the modes to find which one they were using. When being worn, the Tikka can light 100+ feet of space in front of the wearer, and does not weigh the head down whatsoever (weighing a miniscule 3.2 ounces) while still maintain a sturdy building. While my theory for testing the device was not approved by Dusty, I can attest that it lives up to everything it claims to be.